Dynamics
by Ender Victorious
Summary: Mal finds that sometimes, family changes your priorities. Two new passengers board, changing life on the ship for everyone. Drama and mild romance. River slash OC.
1. Opus 1: Capo

I don't own anything. Takes place after Objects in Space but before Serenity.

_Prologue_

**Opus 1- Capo**

Vici

Three years before the Battle of Serenity

"Jonah, you remember your Uncle Mal, don't you?"

The small boy with pale grey eyes looked up at the unfamiliar man. "Mmm…nope."

Mal's brother-in-law Aaron glared down at his son. "Of course you remember him. Where's your sister?"

As if in answer to his question, a girl came out from inside the house. "Da, I'm hungry an' Jonah is mean an' won't let me eat his cookies."

"Breezy, come out here. I don't suppose you remember your uncle?"

"I don't have an uncle." The girl, who couldn't have been any older than five, grinned hugely, obviously knowing that what she was saying would annoy her father. "I have a brother. A mean, mean, mean brother."

Mal looked intently at the girl. Even at her young age, he could tell she would grow up to look like her mother, his sister Gracie. "Aaron, let them go. We need to talk."

Aaron looked down at his son and daughter. "Jonah, Breezy, get out of here. I need to talk with your uncle alone."

Jonah, who had just passed his seventh birthday, smiled. "This is my uncle. I remember."

"I know you do, now go inside the house, mashong." He turned back to Mal. "Well. How much leave do you have? How long until you go back to your suicide mission?"

"Look, I'm only here to check on the kids. I promised Gracie-"

Aaron took a threatening step towards his former brother-in-law. "I don't give a good gorram what you promised Gracie," he snarled. "These are my kids, and I'll raise them however the hell I see fit. You're not a part of our family, Reynolds."

The words were barley out of Aaron's mouth when Mal shoved him into the side of his house and held him there. "Listen," Mal hissed. "Maybe I'm not a part of your ruttin' family, but we both know Gracie didn't want you with those kids. Now, if you wanna try an' tell me otherwise, go ahead. But I know the truth, and you know the truth. So _never_ say that you know what Gracie woulda wanted better'n I do. Dong ma?"

Aaron sneered, his lip curling in disgust. "Why? What are you gonna do about it? Take 'em with you? Off to some godforsaken rock that no one cares about 'cept your army? Off to fight in a _war_ with you?" His expression changed from contempt to snide pleasure. "There's nothing you can do, Mal. So why don't you go fight your little war, and I'll stay here with all you got left from your precious little sister," he mocked. He knew there was nothing Mal could do to him. If he was dead, who would look after the kids?

"Ben tian sheng de yi dui rou," Mal spat out, releasing the other man. "Don't think I'll forget about this, Aaron."

"Oh, I don't think you will. But why should I worry? Way the war's goin', you'll be dead before the month's out."

Mal didn't look back as he walked away from Aaron, who stood with a triumphant grin on his face. He did stop for a minute, though, when his deceased sister's husband yelled out one final comment. "You seen Breezy, though, right?" Aaron paused with perverse satisfaction. There was nothing Mal could do.

"Sweet little thing looks just like her mother."

X

Prologue of what will be a story with about 10 chapters. R&R, please.


	2. Opus 2: Nocturne

**Opus 2- Nocturne**

Mal couldn't sleep. He was thinking about Kaylee. Many nights he would hear Simon coming and going from the bunk next to his. Through the bulkhead he could hear that they never did anything but talk. It annoyed him, but there wasn't really anything he could do about it.

Tonight was different.

Simon hadn't been down there in a week, ever since that fiasco with the bounty hunter. And now he could tell she wasn't sleeping. He could hear her moving around next door nearly every night.

Something was wrong with little Kaylee, and it was his job to fix it.

He heaved himself out of the warmth of his bed and climbed up the ladder. Once in the hall, he tapped quietly on Kaylee's door. "Kaylee? It's me. Can I come in, nian qing de?" After a muffled reply of 'Yeah, Cap'n," he kicked open the hatch and slid down her ladder. "Hey."

"Hi."

"Can't sleep, little Kaylee?"

"Nope. You neither, huh?"

"Nah. Don't need to. You, on the other hand, should get some rest. What happens when somethin' blows up and you're too tired to fix it?" That got no response, so he sat on the edge of her bed. "What's on your mind, meimei?"

She shrugged and sat next to him. "Nothin'."

He sighed, and then tried to cover it up. "Haven't seen Simon around here much lately. He avoidin' you?" he teased playfully.

"No, I'm avoiding him," was her defensive response. "He…I don't want him to be mad at me."

"Now what would he go and do a thing like that for?"

"'Cause…'cause I told the bounty hunter where River was," she blurted out. "I didn't know what else to do, he said if I didn't he would…I'm so sorry, Cap'n!"

This made him sit up and pay attention. "He said he would what?"

She looked up at him, eyes wide. "Nothin'."

"Come on now, Kaylee," Mal chided gently. "Tell me."

"It weren't nothin'. Cap'n," she muttered, looking down at the floor, fiddling with the edge of her blanket. Her evasion told Mal that it was something he should worry about.

"Kaywinnit Lee Frye, you take your eyes off that floor and look at me," Mal commanded sternly. "Lyin' ain't never been your strong point, girl, so why don't you tell me exactly what that xiong meng de kuang ren said to you."

She looked up at him, wide eyes scared and beginning to fill with tears. Then she looked down again and spoke in a voice that was close to a whisper. "He tied me up. Said if I didn't tell him where River was he would…you know." Mal thought he could feel his heart break as Kaylee's voice cracked with sadness. "Please don't be mad at me."

"Wo de ma, child," he murmured. "I ain't mad at you, dong ma?" He wrapped the girl in a hug." You ain't done nothin' wrong. I could never be mad at you, xin gan." He ran a hand down her hair, soothing her gently. "I'm never gonan let anything like that happen to you ever again. You know that, right?"

He could feel her beginning to cry. "I'm sorry, Cap'n. I shouldn'ta told him-"

"Hey. You listen to me, Kaylee. You got nothin' to be sorry for. You understand me?" She didn't respond, just kept her head buried in his shoulder, so he gently took her chin and raised it so she was looking him in the eye. "I said, do you understand?"

"Yes, Cap'n."

"That's my girl" He sighed and took her back into his arms. "That's my good girl."

Mal stayed in Kaylee's bunk until she fell asleep, then made his way back to his own. He found that he was still unable to think. Still thinking about his young mechanic.

Kaylee depended on him. He knew that, maybe more than she did. It was his job to look after her, see that she stayed safe. That was why it pained him so much that this had happened, and that he hadn't been able to help her.

Also, the last time a nineteen-year-old girl had trusted Mal to protect her, she had wound up dead.

He'd be damned if he'd let that happen again.

He was trying to make up for it with Kaylee- trying to get rid of some of the guilt that ate away at him like acid every day. But it could never be enough, because there was no going back and saving someone who had died fifteen years ago. And no matter how hard he tried, it still seemed like there was something missing, something he could have done that he didn't do to make it all better.

Oh well. It was too late- or too early- for self examination.

Mal turned off the light and fell asleep.

X

_Uh…hey, Uncle Mal._ _It's Jonah…your nephew. I checked the Shiplog registry for your WAVE link…I guess I kinda always knew my dad was lying. He told us that you got killed in the war. Anyways, I need to ask you something. There's a lot of stuff going on, and I really need to get Breezy off this planet. So if you could give us a ride to…well, to anywhere other than here, it'd be great.Uh…my WAVE link is _JMBtango09_. Sorry to bug you like this, but it's not me, it's Breezy. I can't let her stay here. End WAVE._

Mal switched off the screen after watching the WAVE for the third time. So Aaron had told the kids that he was dead. Tamade hundan. Jonah would be seventeen by now and Breezy two years younger. And it sounded like they were in some kind of trouble. Well, he wasn't gonna let the kids twist. He immediately typed in his nephews WAVE link and waited until the screen flickered on with Jonah's young face. "Jonah. So your pop told you I was dead, eh?"

Jonah only vaguely resembled the seven-year-old Mal had known. His hair had darkened from bright red to a rusty auburn with subtle blonde streaks that hung down into his eyes and over his ears in loose curls, giving the impression that it badly needed to be cut. However, his most distinctive feature- long lashed eyes the light grey color of ice- remained the same. "Yeah. I'm sorry."

"Weren't nothin' you did, son. So what can I do for you?"

Jonah was up front. He wasn't about to shy away, not when his sister was counting on him. "We need a ride, me an' Breezy. Anywhere, just not here. Please."

"You mind tellin' me what kinda trouble you're in?"

"I…it's nothing with the law," the boy answered nervously. "I just need to get Breezy outta here, and our dad can't know."

"An' where exactly am I s'possed to take you?"

"Anywhere," Jonah repeated. "Anywhere but here. Please, Uncle Mal." He was almost pleading. "You gotta help us. Or Breezy. Just help Breezy. I can't let her stay here with…here."

Mal was a criminal. He had fought in a war. He knew a desperate situation when he saw one. "Be at the docks at noon in two days."

Jonah grinned in relief. "Thank you. Thank you so-"

"Forget it, kid. You're family. Give Breezy my best."

"I will."

"Good. Oh, and Jonah?"

"Yeah?"

"Glad to hear from you, son." The screen flickered off, and Mal stared down at the mass of buttons and switches that adorned the console. How the hell would he set this thing for Vici?

X

Translations

ben tian sheng de yi dui rou- stupid inbred sack of meat (from chapter 1)

nian qing de- young one

meimei- little sister

xiong meng de kuang ren- violent lunatic

xin gan- sweetheart

tamade hundan- fg bastard

Capo- Beginning

Nocturne- At night, piece for the night.

_All chapter titles will be types of musical works or dynamic markings. R&R, please._


	3. Opus 3: Cambiare Bisbigliando

**Opus 3**

"This is it. You okay, Bree?"

Breezy didn't respond to her brother, just kept her eyes fixed on the large ship that had just set down, raising a cloud of dust. It was old, that was the first thing she noticed. Older than her or Jonah, at least. She turned to her brother, looking up and meeting his eyes. She didn't need to say anything. _I'm afraid._

The door to the cargo bay opened, and Jonah saw his uncle for the first time in ten years. He looked a little older than Jonah remembered, but that was to be expected. Mal gestured to the boy, who led his younger sister onto the ship. "All ready to go, you two?"

"Yeah. Come on, Breezy."

Mal got a shock at seeing his niece. She looked _exactly _like Gracie had at that age. From wavy, light blonde hair that fell just past her shoulders, to wide, pale blue eyes- she seemed to be a carbon copy of her mother. One deviation was her size- even at fifteen years old, Breezy was barley over four and a half feet tall. He shook off the feeling and pounded the com next to him. "Wash, go." Mal turned back to the two teens. "I got a couple rooms ready for you in the passenger dorm, if you wanna go get settled in."

Jonah nodded. "Thanks. I think…Breezy, do you wanna sleep? Are you hungry?"

The girl didn't take her eyes off the floor as she shrugged. Jonah placed his hand gently on her shoulder. "Maybe you should try to sleep. It's safe here."

"I'll bring you back to the passenger dorm," Mal commented. He noticed that Jonah never let his hand leave his sister's shoulder.

"Breezy, you should sleep. It's been-"

Mal couldn't help but smile as his niece rolled her eyes and sighed. He didn't know how, but the girl even echoed Gracie's mannerisms. "Okay, Jonah."

"Good. Are you gonna be okay here by yourself for a minute if I go talk with Uncle Mal?"

She frowned uncertainly. "If I need you…"

"He'll be up on the bridge," Mal responded gently. Breezy nodded and met her uncle's eyes for the first time. She immediately looked away.

Mal walked with Jonah up to the bridge. "So, are you gonna tell me what's goin' on?"

Jonah sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "First, you gotta promise you won't go back down to Vici and kill anyone."

"Got it. So?"

Mal had never seen anyone look as uncomfortable as the boy did right now. "It was our dad. He was hurting Breezy. And when I tried to stop him…well, he's a lot bigger than I am." Jonah was muscular but thin, and stood perhaps two inches below six feet.

Mal could feel fury rising from the pit of his stomach into his chest. He shouldn't have left Aaron with the kids all those years ago. He _knew _he shouldn't have left Aaron with those kids. But no, he had to go fight in a war instead. "Hurting Breezy _how_?"

"Just…hurting her," he mumbled. "And I tried to stop him, I really did! But you know my dad, he's _huge_, and I just…I had to get Breezy outta there."

"Jonah, I want you to tell me what he did to that girl."

"No," he stated flatly. "What's the point? It was bad, okay? It was really bad, that's all you need to know. It's not gonna help anyone for me to talk about it."

Mal swallowed a sigh. "Where do you want me to bring you?"

"Anywhere. I have a friend on Izmir, but I really don't care."

"Jonah, I'm not just gonna drop a couple of kids on a strange planet." Funny, that was exactly what he had threatened Simon and River with when they had first boarded the ship.

"I don't care. I just want her to be safe. Don't tell me you wouldn't have done the same thing for my mom in a situation like this."

The kid made a good point. "You know you both can stay here as long as you need. You think your dad'll be lookin' for you?"

Jonah shrugged. "I dunno. I really gotta get back to Breezy. She…she can't really sleep anymore. I'm worried about her. She doesn't talk to anyone but me, won't eat." The expression on Jonah's face was almost anguished as he turned to go to the passenger dorm. Once he got there, he found himself face to face with a girl. A pretty girl, he couldn't help but notice.

River stared. She couldn't help it, she had to look at this boy's eyes. Her eyes were dark, as were Simon's and Zoe's and Inara's and Book's and Jayne's. The Captain's eyes were blue, but dark. Wash and Kaylee both had lighter colored eyes, but they didn't even come close to this boy's. They were pale grey, the color of ice, sparkling and so light that they bordered on white.

I would see as those eyes see.

This was a boy. A real boy. Not like Simon, or the boys at the Academy…they had been broken like her. She could tell just by looking that this boy knew how to be a boy.

Jonah had gone on dates, even gotten serious with a few girls. But he had never really gone for blondes; he supposed that they all subconsciously reminded him of his little sister. He vaguely acknowledged that the girl standing in front of him had nice, long, dark brown hair, but mostly his thoughts were elsewhere.

River sorted through the jumble of thoughts clouding her mind and forced herself to stop staring and articulate. "Who are you?"

"Uh…I'm Jonah, Mal's nephew."

"I'm River." She smiled, almost lucidly. Jonah smiled genuinely back, for the first time in the past several months.

It felt good to smile.

X

**Cambiare** **Bisbigliando- Whispering change.** Oh, an opus is like…a work, any kind of work. So say if you've written 2 symphonies and 3 concertos and then you write another symphony, it would be Symphony 3, Opus 6….random music lesson. : )

Review, please.


	4. Opus 4: Affettuoso

**Opus 4**

"So, what's with the kid in the passenger dorm?"

Mal glared over at Jayne. "It's my niece. It's prob'ly be best for you al to leave her alone."

They had all heard Mal say that they were picking up his niece and nephew on Vici, apparently Jayne had missed the memo. Simon cleared his throat and spoke hesitantly. "If there's anything physically wrong, I could-"

"No." How could he tell Simon that he only had a vague idea of what was wrong? "I don't want anyone in the passenger dorm except those of you who sleep there, dong ma? Jonah'll be out an' about soon enough."

"He has pretty eyes," River commented softly. "Silver. Sparkly. Like ice."

Kaylee giggled as Simon began to choke on his protein. "Look's like someone's got a crush," she chided.

River seemed confused. "Crush? Who's crushed?"

Kaylee sighed- there was so much River didn't understand, even if she was a genius. "It means-"

"It means what Kaylee's got goin' on with your brother," Jayne cut in. Zoe raised her eyebrows.

"Jayne," she commented mildly, "Leave the kids alone, would you?"

"No one has a crush on me," Wash lamented.

"You're married, Wash," Inara gently reminded the good-natured pilot. He just shrugged.

"So?"

The conversation followed in that direction for the rest of the meal. At the end, Mal motioned Inara over to him discreetly, speaking softly to her. "I need you to do me a favor. That is, if you're not too busy looking for somewhere to jump ship."

She rolled her eyes, something she had been taught never to do. "Yes?"

"I'm gonna try to get Jonah out to meet the rest of the bunch, d'you think you could check in on Breezy for me? I…" He thought about how to phrase it. "The kid seems kinda scared of me, to tell you the truth."

Inara nodded. "I'd be happy to do whatever I can, Mal."

The Companion made her way down to the passenger dorm with a plate of food about twenty minutes later. Apparently Mal had succeeded in his mission to have Jonah meet the others, because the boy was nowhere in sight. Inara knocked lightly on the door and slid it open. "Breezy?"

The small girl sitting on the bed looked up, startled. She didn't say anything, just looked at Inara with large, pale blue eyes. Inara hesitantly walked in. "I…my name's Inara, I rent the shuttle. I brought you some food, are you hungry?"

Breezy shrugged. Inara took that as a yes and proceeded further into the room. She set the tray down and looked curiously at the notebook in front of the girl. "Is that music? You're writing music?"

"It's…yeah."

Her voice sounds so young, was Inara's observation on hearing Breezy speak for the first time. "Do you mind if I look?"

"Nuh-uh. Go ahead."

Although she had been taught the basics of the dulcimer, as all Companions were, she wasn't much of a musician. However, she could tell that this piece was amazingly complex. She read the words at the top of the page.

Tango 2, Opus 141

Brianna Catherine Baxter

_For Jonah_

"It's a tango?"

The small girl nodded and spoke quietly. "Yeah."

"How long did it take you to write this?" Inara knew how to get people to open up to her- she had been trained for years at it. Wiles, Mal would call it. Talking about a non-threatening topic that Breezy was interested in was the best way to get her to join in the conversation.

"I started it last night. It'll be done by tomorrow. I-" Breezy caught herself, unsure about volunteering information. "I usually don't write dances. But it's for my stupid brother."

Inara smiled. "Jonah?"

"Yeah. He's so weird. What other seventeen-year-old boy dances tangos? Feng-le." She said quietly, almost like an afterthought. She brushed a strand of light blonde hair out of her eyes and caught sight of the food. "I'm not hungry."

"Your uncle and brother really want you to eat. They're worried about you."

Breezy seemed to pull back into herself. "I'm not hungry," she repeated.

Inara sighed- she could see when she wasn't going to get anywhere. "Okay. If you ever want to talk, Breezy…" It was no use. The girl had turned away and was staring down at her notebook of staff paper again. Inara silently exited the room.

X

River was interested in Jonah. She could see that there was something in his body that made him like her. She just didn't know what it was yet.

"So your brother, he's a doctor?"

"Yes. Simon. What about your sister?"

Jonah laughed slightly. It was a weird question, Breezy was only just fifteen. "She…well, she's a musician. She writes music. Mostly classical for orchestras and stuff, but sometimes jazz. And she plays…everything. Mostly piano, but she knows everything." Jonah forced himself to stop talking. Gods in their heavens, he thought, what am I doing? She asks a question and I tell her Breezy's life story? Shut _up_, man!

"You're worried about her. Think she's broken. Like Simon and me. Except Simon takes care of me more, and you two are more like brother and sister. Fight."

"I don't _think_ she's broken, I _know_ she is," Jonah muttered. "Wait," he caught himself. "What?"

"You have pretty eyes."

"Oh…" That wasn't what he was expecting to hear. "Thank you."

"They remind me of ice."

"Everyone always says that. Hey, um…I gotta go check on my sister, but maybe after we could talk more?"

River nodded. "My room's in the passenger dorm. Oh, Jonah?" she called after him as he began to talk away.

He turned. "Yeah?"

"An Argentine dance such as those composed by Piatzzola is ordinarily in duple meter. No feeling of three. Remind your sister."

Jonah gave her a strange look, but smiled all the same. "I'll let her know. Later, River."

"Later," she murmured.

River turned and looked up at the clock on the wall. Eight in the evening- as if a system of time measurement based on solar cycles meant anything out here. Six and a half hours until her first ever dance with a boy who wasn't Simon.

She wondered if Jonah knew.

X

Affettuoso- Tenderly

Review, please.


	5. Opus 5: Appasionatto

**Opus 5**

Jonah browsed through the music on his player, looking for something that would help him sleep. Most of it was the normal stuff you would find in the player of any seventeen-year-old boy and would be no help- zip orchestras, screaming electric guitars, amped slamming pianos. But then he found something a little different, a tango. Sambas and waltzes were alright, but Jonah had always had a soft spot for tangos.

"Jonah? Joe?"

Jonah scrambled off him bed and was next door with his sister in an instant. "I'm here, Bree. Are you okay? What's wrong?" He hopped up onto the bed next to Breezy, who frowned at him.

"Nothing's wrong. Stop worrying. How do you spell 'kyrie?'"

"Why? Since when do you write for chorus?"

"Do you want to help me or not?"

"The phrase is k-y-r-i-e e l-e-i-s-o-n, c-h-r-i-s-t-e e l-e-i-s-o-n. Why aren't you sleeping?"

"Hm, I dunno, Joey. Maybe it's 'cause I'm so stupid that I can't spell a simple sentence," she responded snidely.

You're not stupid, you're just the most dyslexic person I've ever met, Jonah thought. There was no use telling Breezy that, though. Reading and writing notes came much easier to her than reading and writing letters. "Why aren't you sleeping?" he repeated.

"'Cause. I'll just have nightmares," his little sister muttered. "Get off my case, would you?"

"Bree, you shouldn't have to go through this alone-"

She cut him off, snapping. "I can. I can handle it. You…I could have taken it."

"You shouldn't have _had_ to."

Breezy pointed to the cordless earphones he held in one hand. "What are you listening to?" she asked, abruptly and pointedly changing the subject.

"A tango. Now _sleep_."

"Tell me what to do again and see what happens." She smiled as she said it. As if there was anything she could do to hurt him. She doubted that she could jump high enough to hit him in the face. She wouldn't, anyways. Ever.

"Stuff it, midget."

"Put on a shirt, skankwad."

Skankwad? Oh well. At least it isn't 'fucktard' anymore. "Just go to sleep, brat-face." Jonah grinned at his younger sister as he exited her room.

River was standing in the hallway. Jonah suddenly became very conscious of the fact that he wasn't wearing a shirt. "River. I-"

"You can't sleep either?"

He couldn't help but smile. "No. I was just…"

"Worried about your sister," she stated. "I know. Simon's the same way with me…except he never calls me brat-face. Is that a tango?"

"Uh…yeah. Yeah, it is."

"Wanna dance?"

"Do you know how?"

"Better than you do," she responded without a hint of sarcasm.

"If you really wanna do this, we're gonna need more room."

"Come on."

River led Jonah out into the spacious cargo bay. He had a smile playing around the corners of his mouth. "Just as a precaution…are we gonna get in trouble for this?"

"No. We won't get caught. Give me one of those."

Jonah handed an earphone to River, placing the other one on the outside of his ear. "Slow, slow, quick quick slow," she whispered to him. He grinned.

"I'm not an amateur."

"I know."

"Let's do this."

The music was an Argentine tango, giving River a slight idea of what to expect. Jonah would lead, of course, and when he did, he started off in an _orillero_ style- a close embrace, small steps, tricky syncopated footwork, and lots of embellishments. Show off, she thought. Well, watch this.

He tried a _sacada_, stepping into her space and displacing her foot, seeing how far he could push her. She quickly hooked her leg around his in a _gancho_, grinning all the time. Her arm reached up and grabbed his, twirling him around, astonishing him.

"What the hell are you _doing_?" he hissed.

She smiled in response. "Leading."

"You can't…you're a…"

"A girl? Thanks for noticing." Boys, thought River. They just can't take it when they're not in control. She pulled a quick _arrastre_, dragging his foot along with hers. "Calm down." He frowned, looking almost angry at her for usurping his position. The music got faster, more frantic.

He broke away from her quickly and did a pirouette, spinning on demi-pointe. After maybe five spins he flipped over backwards in the air and landed in an arabesque position. River just rolled her eyes- he was so obvious, all boys were. "We're dancing a tango, not a ballet, you boob." She did a front-flip, no hands, landing in front of him and taking him in a tango position again.

She let him lead for the rest of the dance.

It ended with a long, held out note from the bandoneon. They were both breathing heavily- their dance had taken them rapidly around the cargo bay several times. He was grinning his face off, River was more subdued.

"You're good," she granted. "Where'd you learn?"

"Ballet from a man on Vici named Kyo Mohammed Uotani. Tango from a girl."

"A girl?"

"A friend. She taught me the basics, I learned the rest. What about you?"

"I taught myself." She knew how ludicrous that sounded, given the way she had danced, but she didn't care- because it was true. "We're still in dance position."

"Oh…hey. We are." They were close, their bodies pressed completely together. A bead of sweat was running down the side of Jonah's neck, and for some reason River couldn't take her eyes off it. He spoke softly. "Do you think…we should go to bed?"

Her response was just as quiet, barley above a whisper. "I'm not tired. Neither are you."

"How do you-"

He was cut off by a kiss. Jonah had kissed girls before, lots of them, but this was different. There wasn't even any tongue, but it was still better than anything he had had. But _go-se._ He couldn't do this. He had known River for less than two days. He was supposed to be a gentleman. "River, I don't think-"

"You didn't like it?"

"Of course I liked it, but we can't…_I_ can't-"

"You can. You just did. You will again, soon enough. It'll be better next time." River was naturally brilliant at everything she tried to do, but there was always room for improvement. It _would_ be better next time.

And of course there would be a next time.

"River, you're…you're just…"

She was enjoying not letting him finish his sentences. "I know. Goodnight." She left Jonah standing alone in the darkened cargo bay. He ran a hand through his hair, confused but smiling all the same.

Inara smiled as she looked silently down from the catwalk. Good for River.

X

**Translations**

Kyrie e lesion, Christe e lesion- Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy…Latin.

Appassionato- Passionately.

A bandoneon is an instrument that's kind of like an accordion.

Reviews, please.


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